Business: Infatuation with Controls

While wage and price controls are still anathema to the vast majority of
economists and White House policymakers, a rising chorus is beginning
to demand their imposition. Senator Edward Kennedy has centered the
economic proposals of his presidential campaign on a six-month wage and
price freeze. Barry Bosworth, who directed the Carter inflation
guidelines program for two years, now favors mandatory controls. Even a
number of conservatives are reluctantly swinging toward controls.
Brookings Institution President Bruce MacLaury now supports wage and
price restrictions, and Wall Street Banker Henry Kaufman says controls
can...